John and Jeanette Woehrle received a conditional use permit to open the Woehrle Company General Store in downtown Wright City at the May 22 board of aldermen meeting and officially opened on May 27.
This item is available in full to subscribers.
We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a digital subscriber with an active subscription, or you are a print subscriber who had access to our previous wesbite, then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you have not yet logged in to your account on this new site.
If you are a current print subscriber and did not have a user account on our previous website, you can set up a free website account by clicking here.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
This story has been updated to reflect that the Woehrle Company General Store plans to donate to the Wright City Food Pantry .
John and Jeanette Woehrle received a conditional use permit to open the Woehrle Company General Store in downtown Wright City at the May 22 board of aldermen meeting and officially opened on May 27.
John Woehrle said they are opening the store as a low-cost grocery store for residents in the area and they plan to donate to the Wright City Food Pantry as well.
“About 80% of it is discount groceries, and we’re going to have a lot of different things there, but we want to give the community a way to save money on everyday items,” said John Woehrle.
The store opened at 107 E. First Street North and will be open from Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., although Jeanette Woehrle noted they may change the hours based on the community’s needs.
John Woehrle said they started work on this mission a few years ago when they started a produce stand and it has just “taken off from that.”
He said they were at one of the First Fridays on First Street festivals last year and noticed the building was for sale and decided the time was right.
Jeannette Woehrle said they are also going through the process to accept SNAP benefits at the store as well, and she expects to hear back from the Missouri Department of Social Services some time in the next couple weeks.
She said they are also working with the Wright City Food Pantry to stock shelves and said items at the store would be offered based on availability.
She also said they planned to sell crafts and homemade goods from community members at the store as they were available as well. She said these would include crafts from several local vendors and items like homemade sourdough bread and cookies.
Jeannette Woehrle thought it was just another layer to bring people together at the store and would serve to improve the community feel they wanted to cultivate in their store.
John Woehrle was appreciative of the support from the community to help make the store a reality.
“It’s been very humbling for myself, the outpouring of support that we’ve gotten from the community, it’s something we’ve worked very, very hard for over the last two years,” said John Woehrle.
Since the building is located in Wright City’s downtown district, a conditional use permit was required to open the business. The requirement is the same for any business in the downtown district and the permit was approved unanimously at the meeting.
Mayor Michelle Heiliger commended the couple for their efforts and spoke about the impact the store would have in the community.
“This is a special place. We consistently see people who go out of their way to be helpful to other people for no reason, with the expectation of getting nothing in return,” said Heiliger. “They just want to be helpful.”
Jeannette Woehrle said the store’s slogan is “relationships in the community, one customer at a time.”
